Apparatus for keeping accounts.



L. R. TIFFANY. APPARATUS FOR KEEPING ACCOUNTS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-17, 1906.

- PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1907.

2 SHEETS-$331111.

PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1907. L. R. TIFFANY. APPARATUS FOR KEEPING AGGOUNTS.

APPLIUATION'IILED 8313117, 1906.

2 SHEETBSHEBT 2.

Fronta @u-uenfov 9X in Mac:

LEON R. TIFFANY, OF KINGSLEY, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR KEEPING ACCOUNTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. V17, 1907.

Application filed September 17,1906. Serial No. 33 ,9

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Laos It. TIFFANY. a citizen of the United States, residing at Kingsley, in the county of Susquehanna and State of Pennsylvania, have in-. vented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for are adapted to receive the usual or well-known salesslips, and are so constructed that the balance due at any time can be seen without removing the slips from the envelop. The other kind of envelops are for keepingtotal or aggregate accounts or a monthly summary of all accounts, and these envelops are indexed and each envelop is adapted to contain a slip showing the state of the account of every individual whose name is of the same index letter.

. The object of the invention isto provide a card index system or ledger by which the account of any individual can be readily determined, as well as the items forming the account, and also whereby the merchants monthly summary of outstanding accounts can be readily determined. v

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the filing drawer or cabinet which contains the envelops. Fig. 2 is a side view showing the envelops in place. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line -'3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig.4 is a perspective view of one of the duplicate sales slip envelops which are provided for each customer. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the index envelops for monthly accounts. Fig. 6 is a plan view of a slip such as kept in the envelop shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 .is a modified form of customers envelop.

The filing drawer or cabinet consists ofa base 6, a front 7 and a back piece 8. It may also be provided with side pieces if desired, although they are not necessary. The drawer has a pair of rods 9 preferably located at the lower opposite sides or corners, and hinged attheir rear end so that they will swingup or out at the front ends. This function may conveniently be effected by making the rods ofa piece of heavy wire bent to form a cross connecting piece 10 joined by upright parts 11 to the rear ends of the rods 9, and the cross piece 10 acts as a pivot for the rods, being secured to the base plate 6 by loops 12. The rear piece 8 of the drawer is of less width than the space between the rods 9, so that the said rods may swing up beside the ends of said rear piece, even to vertical position if desired. i

The front piece 7, on its rear side, is provided with notches 13 which receive the free ends of the rods 9 when the said rods are swung down in place in the drawer, and they are iastenedand held in place in the notches by means of swinging hooks 14 pivoted to the front piece and arranged to catchover the ends of the rods. Obviously a lock may be applied, instead of the simple hooks shown, if it be desired to lock account envelops in the drawer.

One form of the account envelops is shown in Fig. 4. This envelop is made in duplicate, one of the duplicates being retained by the merchant and the other by the customer. Each of the envelops has a tab 16 containing the name of the customer, and is provided with holes 17 so that the envelop may be filed on the rods 9. The front wall of the envelop is recessed or cut away at the top, as indicated at 18, and through the opening thus produced the sales or account slip indicated at 19 is always visible. In the use of this envelop with duplicate sales slips the sales slips are brought up to date at the time of each purchase so that the last slip shows the full balance then due, and one of the duplicate slips is given to the customerand placed in his envelop and the other is retained by the merchant in his own envelop. The customers en-.

velop thus serves the function of a pass book, since the slips of all sales will be placed and retained in the envelop until theaccount is settled, the last slip being placed at the fiont, so that the total is exposed through the opening 18 and can be instantly seen by looking at the envelop. The same is true with respect to the merchants envelop which is kept in the drawer, the envelops being filed upon the wires or rods in alphabetical order. Whenever a customer makes a purchase one of the duplicate sales slips is placed in his envelop. In Fig. 7 I show a suitable form of custom ers envelop, having a tab 20 provided with holes 21 whereby it may be hung on the wall.

To contain a monthly summary or ledger the envelop shown in Fig. 5 is used. This is a simple envelop open at the top and having a tab 1 6 for the index letter, and holes 17 to receive the filing rods. Within this envelop is kept a ledger card- 22, as shown in Fig. 6, this card containing all the names under its index letter, together with a monthly statement of the individual accounts as posted from the individual en velops above described. These slips maybe kept in the envelop indefinitely, and by filing the slips at the end of each month the amount of standing accounts is readily seen, and at the end of each year the amount of each customers purchases may be quickly shown, as well as the aggregate business done by the house.

The amounts are brought forward from one slip to the next, each month. These envelo'os containing the i ledger slips or cards are kept in the same file as the ;in-

dividual cards and are alphabetically arranged for convenience in posting and to act as letter indexes 5 for the file.

The apparatus willadapt itself to any business large or small and shows at a glance the up to date account of any customer. The parts are simple and cheap and the methodof using the same is not complicated. The customer always knows the state of his account, and the duplicate account kept by the merchant forms a check. The envelops do not have to be removed from the case for ordinary purposes, since the accounts can be varied or changed or added to by adding newslips. The file takes up very little room and each envelop may be readily found by the index.

I claim: I

In an apparatus for keeping accounts, the combination with a holder, of a series of individual envelops therein and a series of index envelops therein, all arranged in alphabetical order, the individual envelops adapted to receive customers names, and having sales slips therein, and the index envelops having an index letter thereon and being located respectively between different alphabetical groups of the individual envelops, forming an index thereto, and ledger slips within the index envelops, each having spaces adapted to receive the names on the envelops in the corresponding group, and also the totals .from the sales slips. r In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEON R. TIFFANY.

Witnesses:

J. C. MCFARLAND,

W. W. Lnssna. 

